Sorry… I got distracted
27 January 2012 | Rebecca Ellinor
The purchasing and supply website
Business change blog
![[Bloglines]](http://blog.supplymanagement.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/bloglines.png)
![[del.icio.us]](http://blog.supplymanagement.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://blog.supplymanagement.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://blog.supplymanagement.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Google]](http://blog.supplymanagement.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/google.png)
![[LinkedIn]](http://blog.supplymanagement.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/linkedin.png)
![[Twitter]](http://blog.supplymanagement.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
Slower but sure
11 January 2012 | Stefan Stern
No new year’s resolutions for me again this year. How can you improve the unimprovable? I’m joking of course, but there is a more serious point here. As we all know, those seemingly earnest commitments we make in the first week of January do tend to unravel by… well, by the third week of January. (more…)
Delivering full potential in procurement
9 January 2012 | Paul Bakstad
Procurement leaders are increasingly asked to extract more value in light of unprecedented economic conditions. It is understood that pure sourcing alone does not optimise value and many organisations have pushed the boundaries of what is considered traditional purchasing. (more…)
What not to do in procurement
4 January 2012 | Claudine Swiatek
Procurement has to fight very hard to get a seat at the table in many organisations so it is demotivating to see our own behaviour drive us further away from our business. So what should we avoid doing to make sure we don’t ruin our chances? (more…)
Fighting the fear factor
3 January 2012 | Nicola Bromby
I don’t know about you, but whenever a new and exciting opportunity comes my way, I am awash with anxiety. I feel excited and nervous – then the fear factor strikes.
In 2011, I made the leap from the comfort of an industry I had spent my whole procurement career in to new and unchartered (by me) grounds. (more…)
Time for some serious supply chain risk assessment
19 December 2011 | Nick Hood
What a difference a year makes. The UK economy lurched into 2011 sluggish but hopeful, with predictions of GDP growth of 2.2 per cent, surging to a healthy 3 per cent in 2012. Inflation was thought to be a temporary worry at an RPI rate of 4.7 per cent. Unemployment was stable just below 2.5 million.
The October 2010 Spending Review had set the scene for an austerity programme to reduce the budget deficit. There was more fear of cutbacks than actual pain – although that was to come soon enough. (more…)
2011: The year of disruption and the unexpected
14 December 2011 | Guy Strafford
At the start of the year, many businesses were still pursuing a policy of completely integrated supply chains. Few had given thought to what we now know as ‘high impact, low probability’ events. Then the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. Our assumptions about the resilience of supply chains were shattered as its toll on the production of many different goods became apparent. We must now think very differently about single supply arrangements if that supplier could face major disruption. (more…)
Order, order, procurement must be allowed to speak
30 November 2011 | Adam Leach
As expected, yesterday’s autumn statement did not have much that was new to say in terms of new procurement initiatives. While commitments such as completing all government procurements within 120 working days (except the most complex) and increasing communication between the public and private sector are interesting developments, we already knew about them thanks to Cabinet Office disclosure a couple of weeks ago.
However, the time I spent watching the chancellor address parliament was not wasted. Watching the fiery debate, I began to see just how difficult it must be for procurement to get across the details and importance of initiatives to stakeholders. (more…)
Overhauling public sector procurement
28 November 2011 | Renata Towlson
Supply Management recently published three interesting features which caught my attention: Going Public, Public procurements get 120-day deadline and Government boosts SME consultancies with framework agreement.
Public procurement is getting a lot of press coverage of late; even Lord Sugar had his say in Parliament on the subject. All a good and long-awaited development, so why am I concerned? (more…)
Cloudy outlook
17 November 2011 | Steve Rees
Cloud computing is a remarkable phenomenon, with analysts at IDC predicting public cloud computing services to be a $73 billion (£46 billion) market by 2015. However, many CIOs are still puzzled by the term and may not yet be familiar with how appropriate it is for certain business IT functions. Concerns over security, too, remain an issue for some. (more…)
-
Advertisement